autistic boys body recovered from river

[Jimjamskeepingoffvaxthreads]

Another one of these Helen Rogan cases :(

\link{http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4915482.stm\link here}. Awful- and still services don't improve.

I was just watching the news about this, and they hadn't mentioned bodies had been found.

Bloody heartbreaking

Saw her poor sister crying on the BBC news hoping she might still be found alive. I doubt it somehow. :( No doubt her depression will be given prominence in the reporting...not the lack of Soc Servs support that led her to this tragic act.

That is so sad. My sister works as a community support worker and worked with Ryan for several years until her hours were cut. He has not had a service since before Christmas when his mum stopped him using them due to the staff changes but social services were unaware as they have paid until the end of the financial year. Why is this allowed to happen :(

anchovies, your sister must be so distressed at this turn of events :(

It's the same old same old isn't it, every time I go to anything where services are discussed everyone agrees that what is needed is a caseworker to oversee dealings with the many different agencies that are involved when you have a disabled child. And nothing happens. We haven't even got a SW anymore despite ds1 being classes as severely disabled, being registered and receiving quite a high amount of direct payments. Just means if you need to organise something its impossible to find someone to do it because we're no-one's responsibility.

I left the nhs 8 years ago and there were discussions about global caseworkers then and fence protecting hours for kids with special needs. And the only thing that has apparently changed is that it has got worse

I have to say that I hate, hate it when people take their own lives - and take their children with them. There have been several cases recently here - and the parents have nearly always survived and the child has died.

I had heard this on the news this morning but at no point did anyone mention that her son was autistic just that she was depressed. Feels like it's being swept under the carpet again.

i can just imagine this single mum was left on her own to cope w/it all and this must have exacerbated her poor mental health.

what a tragedy.

But ggglimpopo, I think that suicidal people genuinely believe that it is better for their children to die with them rather then be left on their own.

I think this woman was so disturbed and distraught she may have felt her son was better off coming with her.

Very very sad.

I am not talking about her in particular - more about how I feel when I hear that a parent has taken their own life and that of their childs.

I do not believe that anyone has the right to take another life.

Having said that, I can understand how black and hopeless and desperate a person can get, and those feelings of hopelessnes and despair would encompass those who depended upon them.

I briefly heard this on the news. So terrible. I really really hope this is not swept under the carpet. People should not be taking their own, or their children's lives, because of lack of support, which is what we can only assume in this case. Appalling .

Helen Rogan took her son's and her own life because she didn't think there was any possibility of him getting the support he needed. It can seemed warped if you are mentally well, but these people are beyond desperate- and it needs to be asked why. It shouldn't be as hard as it is to get help for a disabled child.

Each time this kind of thing happens we hear about how it must never happen again, but nothing seems to change. :(

Bless her and her beloved child.
Don't even try to imagine how much she must have been hurting. If you have to try you really could never understand.
This subject is so so so close to home.

Only the presence of a new baby in my home has made a difference to the way Social Services respond to my calls.
After I became enraged with the lack of support, I contacted a solicitor and informed Social Services. They came into my home and witnessed my 16 year old autistic child hurting my baby. After all those years of saying we could not look after her without support suddenly Social Services are falling over themselves to help us out.
Looking after anyone 24/7 is totally exhausting.
There is nowhere to go to recover from depression and no chance of time off (unlike nearly all the social workers we have ever known , who are always off sick with that very same condition).

They try to put out fires when the family home is all but burned out!!!!!!!! never do they see the sparks flying
I bet she never told herself that she was a brilliant mother.

So, so sad.

The lack of support is criminal

I've just come onto the SN board to check the facts.
Why last night did I hear that she had jumped off the bridge with her autistic son and today it said a depressed mother had jumped off the bridge taking her son with her. Was he indeed autistic? The second story sounded like it was taking a completely different angle. ie depressed mother commits suicide and takes son with her. The first report sounded more like she had a severely disabled child and had become depressed and distraught seeing no way out.
Very sad story. Just wondered why it had been reported so differently.

really awful and story

another statistic for the shite welfare state
sorry but really peeved with all this lack of support for people and children tbh

how incredibly sad. i remember when the phone was installed on the humber bridge so people could phone the samaritans..

According to the BBC, he had Fragile X Syndrome.

Can I just share with you something (very quickly before my DD gets home)

Sometimes we as parents of SN /Autistic children are offered help. We are expected to be grateful and take it. The problem is that it is wholly unsuitable for the family and especially the child. With it comes additional problems like settling in /change of routine if child goes to respite or a new carer comes in etc etc .
Once you've asked and still feel overwhelmed you feel like a burden !!!!!!!!!!!!
Sometimes the offers of "help" are ridiculous and constitute cruelty in my mind.
My child is just going through a "transitions" phase because she will soon be leaving child services and moving into adult services.
A Social worker hurrried round to my house the other evening (on her way home from work)and dropped off a pile of documents that I need to read and sign . I understood none of it and again felt overwhelmed and needed the time for someone to sit down with me and translate what most of these words in the forms meant .
I sat in the garden and cried.
when I looked up I saw my DD's coat blowing on the line (it was night time and had just got dark and damp)I quickly took it off the line and hugged it as though I was hugging her (like I had left her out in the cold and dark) and I felt terrible for her that she was away in respite care . Her coat and all those stupid forms reminded me just how much it hurts to be her mum.